August 11, 2009

RECORD-REVIEW "Talk of the Town"

By BONNI BRODNICKIs the heat and humidity making you crabby? Are you balking at people talking (loudly) on their cell phones at the pool? Or irritated when you’re trying to tell someone something and they can’t stop to listen because they’re text-messaging? Are you slightly ticked when one of your progeny asks to you leave the room and shut the door because it’s time to SKYPE a special friend on an internship in Los Angeles? In simple terms, are you a fuddy-duddy?? To my horror, my college-bound children called me one. (When does school start again?) Their benevolence had me pondering reduplicated phrases, a term for perky duplicated nouns or verbs that form new idioms, like chop-chop; choo-choo; knock-knock; rah-rah; chic-chic; hanky-panky, bling-bling, yada-yada. (If you’ve got more, send them to towntalk@optonline.net.) So call me a teeny-weeny goody-goody, but I am not a fuddy duddy. Okey-dokey?

Congratulations to two Pound Ridgers who competed in the Lake Placid Ironman Triathlon. This is not a gig for the faint-hearted. It’s a 140.6 mile race, which includes a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run. Kevin Long finished in 11 hours 52 minutes. Don Henry finished in 12 hours and 8 minutes. These superb athletes are 40 and 44 years old respectively, giving us all inspiration to go for the gold. This was Kevin’s first Ironman distance race, and fourth for Don. As of recent report, Don was sore and tired, but quickly recovered within 24 hours. “I’m signed up to do Lake Placid for 2010,” said Don, who has competed in five IM’s total (one out in Idaho).

You’ve been keeping it together all summer. Want to act out? The Pound Ridge Theatre Company announces auditions for Brian Friel’s “Dancing at Lughnasa,” written by Brian Friel in 1990. Set in Ireland's County Donegal in August 1936 in the fictional town of Ballybeg, the play is a memory told from the point of view of the adult Michael Evans, the narrator, who recounts the summer in his aunts' cottage when he was seven years old. Sherry Asch is back in the director’s seat for this autumn Pound Ridge Theatre Company production.

Open roles for five women and three men. If you’ve got a good Irish accent, you’re a leg up. It is requested that you read the play prior to auditions, which take place at Conant Hall in the hamlet on Monday, August 17 and Tuesday, August 18 at 7 p.m. Performance Dates: November 6,7,13,14,20,21 at 8 p.m. and matinees on November 8 and 15 at 2 p.m. For more information, please call Ms. Asch at 845-259-3579 or prtc01@yahoo.com. For even more info, check out the website at www.prtc01.0rg.

We’re not the only ones who think North Star Restaurant serves terrific American cuisine and good vibes all week long. Owners Philip Maniatty and David Schlack and their flair for food have scored high with 2009 Zagat ratings, too. Beyond the menu, the place shines brightly as one of the only hot night-spots in Scotts Corners. Every Wednesday from 8:30-10:30 p.m., local musicians and singer/songwriters from the area perform. Stay post-repast on Thursday nights, and from 9-12:00 p.m. you’ll be wow-ed by the blazing talent of such local bands as Flip Side, Celestial Speed Limit, The Bernadettes, and where the heck were you last night? The band, Ask Your Mom, was possibly the most excitable band North Star and its patrons have ever seen. Once the music gets going, the joint is jumpin’ with revelers relishing the terrifically talented bands playing right in quiet Scotts Corners.

Every Sunday night from 6:30-9:30 p.m., Dennis Collins sings as Lou Bellofatto accompanies on the piano at a perfect pitch for dinner conversation. Dennis has performed with such as artists as Roberta Flack, Sting, Ray Charles, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, David Bowie, Diana Ross, Celine Dion, Beyoncé, Cheryl Crow, Faith Hill and more. He truly has the voice of an angel. Come out and see the stars. As one patron said, “North Star is a fantastic place to eat, drink, dance, and meet up with local friends. This place is honkin’.”